shylock rockbuster

Released: 01 March 2010 Label: Metal Heaven

This particular Shylock is not the Merchant of Venice, although I guess it’s possible that they’ve been to Venice at some point. Nor are they sharp lawyers or moneylenders, at least, not as far as I know. What they are is a tight four piece band playing AOR with a metal edge in an inoffensive, melodic sort of way. Entertaining in it’s own right, but not enough to really capture attention for extended periods.

RockBuster, their fifth full length album captures that AOR sound pretty well, with some songs kindling the sort of reaction I have to bands like REO Speedwagon and Foreigner, although Shylock are a little heaviers. It’s pleasant enough, but I couldn’t listen to a lot of it.

Opening track, Damn Good, is a lively enough start with some hints of Green Day energy coming through, then Dawn takes things up a notch.

The Timex Social Club performed a song called Rumours way back in 1986. Sadly, I remember it well. It is covered here in a more menacing fashion than the original, and it’s a decent version, probably the highlight of the album.

Sunshine vs Rain, has the band showing their soppy side, while Just for U and Much re-establish a bit of machismo with a harder edge. Rose of Cairo includes a hint of middle Eastern influence on the melody.

Somebody Else captures a spirit of teenage angst, which is a bit out of place, given the maturity of everything else on the album, not to mention the band themselves.

Then there is The Moment, which is frankly awful, encapsulating everything that is bad about AOR. This is a song with so much cheese that it should be sold in a delicatessen rather than a music shop. That however is the low point and the rest of the album is much better.

The vocals of Matthias Shenck are clean and clear all the way through, and he has a decent enough range. Guitars from Michael Bayer and Johannes Amrhein are suitably crunchy and tight, and the drums of Achim Thiergärtner are doing what they should be doing, thundering away in the background.

Overall, this is one for AOR fans who are looking for something a bit heavier, but not so heavy as to cause offence to their ageing parents.

by Alan Thomson